Bafut
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The town of Bafut is a town in Cameroon in the Northwest Province, to the North of the city of Bamenda. It is the headquarters of the Bafut subdivision. It is famous for
- Being the venue of the Annual Dance of the Fon (local chieftain) or the Abin e Mfor.
- The location of the palace of the Fon of Bafut, the residential dwelling of the Fon and his wives and counsel which now houses a museum. (see Fon of Bafut for a section on the Palace of the Fon)
- The nearby location of the botanical garden of Savanna Botanic Gardens, which noted naturalist Gerald Durrell helped plan, is located near the town.
- The presence of the Bafut market, which is a very vibrant one in the area, occurring every eight days, selling fruits, spices, vegetables, meat and animals.
[edit] Subdivision of Bafut
The neighbouring region is also referred to as Bafut or the Bafut Subdivision or the Kingdom / Chiefdom / Fondom of Bafut. It is a subdivision in the Mezam Division of Northwest Province, Cameroon. It is located in the Western Grassfields region - a name for the Northwest Province, Cameroon and surrounding grassland areas. Bafut is the most powerful of the traditional kingdoms of the Grassfields, now divided into 26 wards or subdivisions along a 10 kilometre stretch of the "Ring Road" that trails along a ridge above the Menchum Valley.
Bafut is one of the two regions in Cameroon (the other being Bali, Cameroon), where traditional power structures are still in place. Bafut is a chiefdom or fondom. It was long the centre of the local kingdom of the Tikar people (originally from the Northern regions of Lake Chad), and is presently administered by the Fon of Bafut. The Fon of Bafut was, and to some extent still is, the paramount Fon of the region, with all other Fons pledging allegiance to him.
Bafut is primarily an agrarian region.
The region of Bafut is situated about twenty kilometres northwest of Bamenda and covers an area of roughly 340 km2. The estimated population of 80,000 (2005) is settled in three main zones.
- At the centre are the people of Mumala'a (heart of the country) clustered around the Fon's palace who refer to themselves as the real Bafut (Bufu). This name can be applied to the whole chiefdom.
- To the south is the Ntare (ridge area)
- To the north is the Mbunti (lower) which descends abruptly to the Metchum river valley
The Fondom of Bafut is known for
- its palace of the Fon of Bafut, which houses a museum (see Fon of Bafut for a section on the palace)
- for its annual festival Abin e Mfor or the Dance of the Mfor/Fon
- as the place where the famous naturalist Gerald Durrell came on two animal-collecting expeditions in 1949 and 1957. Durrell wrote two accounts - The Bafut Beagles and A Zoo in My Luggage - on his travels in Bafut.
[edit] Bafut Language
The Bafut language is classed within the Mbam-Nkam section of the central branch of the Niger-Congo languages along with other nearby languages such as Bali Nyonga, Bamum and Pingin. Oral tradition traces dynastic origins to the Ndobo or Tikari areas. It is spoken by people of the subdivisions of Bafut, and Tuba, in the division of Mezam and in the division of Metchum in Northwest Province, Cameroon.
[edit] References
- R. K. Engard; Myth and political economy in Bafut (Cameroon)- the structural history of an African kingdom; Paideuma, Vol. 34, pp. 49 - 89; 1988
- R. K. Engard; Dance and power in Bafut (Cameroon), Creativity of power: Cosmology and action in Afrian societies, ed. W. Arens and Ivan Karp, Smithsonian Institution Press; 1989
